Anecdotage

from WORDSMITH.ORG

anecdotage (an-ik-DO-tij) noun

1. The telling of anecdotes.

2. Anecdotes collectively.

[From Greek anekdota (things unpublished), from an- (not) + ekdidonai (to publish). Originally applied by the Greek historian Procopius to his unpublished memoirs of the Emperor Justinian and his consort Theodora.]

3. Old age characterized by excessive telling of anecdotes.

[Humorous blend of anecdote and dotage, from dote (to be foolish).]

"When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire." Benjamin Disraeli; Lothair; 1870; quoted in The Yale Book of Quotations.